


Chains of The Past

by Nowherememories



Series: Blackbird [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Ancient Prophecy, Angels, Demons, Ghosts, Hellhounds, Magic, Original World, Other, Prophets, Some Abuse, Unlocked Powers, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, hidden past
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2020-12-27 19:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21124166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nowherememories/pseuds/Nowherememories
Summary: In a world full of magic, Nicole Stray has always been normal, an orphan raised by her older brother Isaac, she never believed she could be anything special. But when an ancient evil is released to take it's vengeance on the world, she'll learn that things aren't what she though. She'll need to learn new skills to survive, and unlock the secrets of her unknown past.





	1. Something Awakens

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting a story on the archive and even though i'm super nervous about what everyone thinks i'm also super excited for other people to see this story that I've put so much work into. Don't be afraid to leave comments, i'd love to hear back from people on everything from what they liked to what they hated. So without further ado, Chains of The Past

The moon rose high into the clear nights sky as an ominous feeling began to spread through the forest. A tense and foreboding air crawled through the underbrush like an invisible fog, emanating from the mouth of a nearby mine.

“O mi deus, est adeo stultus”

Deep inside the mine, the words bounced against the walls of an underground cavern, as dark robed figures slowly gathered around a circle painted on the stone floor.

“Hoc malum sit tempus nescio mentionem ipsius linguae translitterandi”

Inside the circle, a large and complex symbol was drawn on the ground, its lines still wet from the fresh blood that had been spilled to create it. And as the candles spread around the edges of the circle and throughout the cavern flickered, the figures stopped at their positions.

“O bene, plerique hoc bis inspicere”

They continued to chant as the symbol began to glow with a dark light and the ground underneath it shook and rumbled.

“Reliqua, spes bene, sit amet”

The voices grew louder, and so did the rumbling of the ground below them, a violent warning that the power they toyed with was better left alone. The symbol glowed with such light that the figures were forced to look away as they heard the ground crack and splinter, shielding their eyes behind the arms of their robes.

When the light finally subsided, a young man dressed in tattered rags, stood in the center of the symbol.

His long black hair, dirty and wild, hid his face from their view, and scattered whispers floated through their ranks as they questioned what they had summoned . He slowly lifted his head and the striking colors of his eyes immediately silenced the room as they stood, frozen under his gaze. His right eye was a dark red, the color of dried blood, and his left was a bright and clear white. A large scar ran diagonally across the left side of his face, starting next to his nose and stopping after carving a line through his eyebrow.

His gaze drifted over the figures surrounding him, and even though he seemed a bit unsteady on his feet, his eyes were alive and awake.

Before he had the chance to speak, the figures around him dropped to their knees and bowed their heads reverently, all except for one.

A pendant dangled from the man's neck, a simple silver circle with a trident in the middle, framed further down it's base by an extra pair of horns. Two black gems sat on either side of the weapon like a pair of eyes, dark and bottomless. The young man looked at it, recognizing the symbol as something he’d seen eons ago, back before he was condemned to hell.

“Oh great one, we, your humble servants, have freed you from hell so that you may finally enact your vengeance upon this world.” As he spoke, the man moved forward, raising his arms above his head like a religious leader giving a passionate speech.

The young man waited, his eyes cold and empty, for the priest to finish his loud speech and then, tilted his head and spoke.

“Where are the others?” His voice was raspy and dry from disuse but he spoke just loud enough for his words to echo slightly through the now silent cavern.

The hooded man paused for a second, taken aback by the unexpected question, “Th-The others, my lord? Apologies but, it’s taken us many years and much effort just to free you. The others are still… well… imprisoned.”

The young man's expression didn’t change after hearing the answer, at least not at first, the hooded mans only sign of danger was a hardening behind the mismatched eyes.

Before anyone could move, the young man’s hand shot out and grabbed the figure by his throat, lifting him about a foot off the ground and holding him at arms length. His eyes were narrowed, a barely concealed anger glowing deep within them like hell fire in the distance and the hooded man floundered in his grasp.

“Well then, we’ll have to change that.” With a swift move of his wrist, a loud crack echoed through the cavern, punctuating the end of his words. The body was dropped onto the ground carelessly as the young man wiped his hand on his already dirty shirt.

He didn’t look back as he turned to leave the cave, his followers moving to trail behind him. His eyes no longer burned, instead they were distant, focused solely on another goal, with no regard for whatever obstacles lay in his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a hidden joke or two in here if anyone wants to take the time to find them.


	2. Breakfast and Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi and welcome back, time to start actually building a character base, and hope at least some people enjoyed my hidden jokes from last week.

The sound of a neck snapping, the look in his red and white eyes, the small pendant that had hung from the dead man's neck.

The same images kept flashing through her mind over and over again, fragmented pieces of the scene that had just played out before her. Suddenly, she jolted upright, fear finally waking her from her chilling nightmare and pulled her knees up hugging them to her chest.

“It was just a dream, it was just a dream, everything’s fine, it was just a dream.” She was no stranger to nightmares, a victim of a very active imagination she was used to her brain coming up with weird shit to mess with her. But this time something had been different. It hadn’t felt like a typical nightmare, and if she really thought about it she could almost swear she’d actually been standing in the cave with the figures. She could still faintly feel the cold stone underneath her feet and the ominous pit in her stomach that had made her whole body feel heavier.

She sighed and ran her hands through her hair, moving them over the top of her head and linking them together to press on the back of her neck. She hoped that the pressure would help to ground her and had almost gotten her heart beat back to a moderately normal pace when her alarm clock began to beep loudly. With an exhausted groan she flung herself onto the bed and towards the clock, stretching her arm out to shut off the annoying object. Once it was silenced, she nimbly slid her legs off the side of her bed and stood as the rest of her body followed.

Stretching her arms over her head, she walked over to open her door and made her way down the narrow upstairs balcony to the houses only bathroom. As she passed over the small downstairs kitchen her brother glanced up at her, “Hey, Nic! How you want your eggs?” 

“Scrambled!” She called down before ducking into the bathroom and locking the door behind her. She quickly splashed some cold water on her face, partially to help her wake up but mostly to get her mind off of her nightmare. She imagined the cold water washing the images and the faint trail of tears on her cheek down the drain somewhere she wouldn’t have to think about them before numbly going through her morning routine.

After she’d finished in the bathroom she made her way back to her room, as she walked past the kitchen a familiar and delicious smell grabbed at her attention and helped her move a bit faster. She was definitely not a morning person, her brother would swear to that, but she was a breakfast person. She hurried to get all of her things together before walking past her brothers room and down the spiral staircase at the other end of the balcony.

She threw her messenger bag onto the couch as she passed it and slid into her normal seat at the table, watching her brother move through the kitchen, finishing whatever food was making the house smell so amazing.

“Something smells good.” She said as she tried to get a glance at whatever he was making. Her efforts proved to be in vain as he perfectly positioned himself to block her view.

“I figured you could smell it from upstairs, just give me a few more seconds and it’ll be ready.” He replied as he placed two plates side by side on the counter next to him.

She anxiously tapped on the table and let her eyes wander around the room, trying desperately to find something to distract her. Nothing seemed to work until she looked out the window to her left at a clear blue sky and fluffy clouds. 

The window was enchanted, allowing them to see the sky above their apartment instead of the brickwall of the building next to them. It was glitchy and raised their rent price, but Nicole was still glad that it was there.

As she watched a cloud pass by the small window her brother placed her plate of food down on the table and slid into the chair across from her with his own plate.

She turned to look at her breakfast and grinned at the surprise waiting for her, “Did you make… bacon?” she looked up at her brother happily as he smiled back at her.

“There was an extra shipment about to go bad at work last night, so they let me take it. You better enjoy it since it’s the expensive kind.”

“Isaac, have I mentioned that you’re the best big brother ever.” she said before digging into her warm meal.

“Yes, but it wouldn’t hurt to say it more often.” 

“Yor da best bruder evr.” She repeated through a mouthful of food, receiving a small chuckle and a reprimand to not talk with her mouth full.

She quickly finished her food and dumped her plate into the sink. “Are you working late again tonight?” 

“Not too late, I should get home around 8:00, 8:30.” He replied as she walked over to the couch to grab her bag and head for the door. 

“Guess I'm making dinner then, see yah after work!” She tossed over her shoulder, pulling the large rolling door open with a slight squeak.

“Be safe!”

She rolled her eyes at the fond and familiar goodbye and slid the door closed behind her.


	3. Sticks and Stones

It was a beautiful day outside, and as she walked through the familiar streets of her hometown she smiled, listening to the overlapping chatter of early mornings in the small city. 

She let her mind wander as her feet instinctively took her down the familiar paths to her destination, Meadowlock Academy. She was almost there when she suddenly felt herself falling forward. She had just enough time to turn and land on her side instead of her face as her mind was forcefully pulled back to reality and the sounds of condescending laughter echoed around her.

“Watch where you’re going, Stray.” She looked up at the glittering heels of the last person she wanted to see, Sapphire Hills. Sapphire was a member of the wealthiest witch family in town, raised with a silver spoon in her mouth and a chip on her shoulder, there wasn’t anything she wasn’t immediately deemed the best at, except being nice. She paid more attention to her nails then her classes and wouldn’t walk in the rain because she wasn’t legally allowed to form a magic shield to keep herself dry, so if Nic had to name one person as her worst enemy, she’d pick Sapphire. 

Technically no witch was allowed to freely use magic until they turned 18 and graduated high school but there were a few exceptions to that rule. Those being controlled environments for teaching purposes, and if it was deemed absolutely necessary for a job and the witch had the required paperwork. That being said, Nic doubted Sapphire even had enough skill and brain cells to maintain a shield and walk at the same time.

As Sapphires lackeys cackled at the overused insult Nic rolled her eyes and got back to her feet.

“Whoops, better wipe that dirt off your clothes Stray, or was it there before you fell?” The girls cackled again,the sound high pitched and as fake as their nails, but Nic merely turned and continued walking. 

She had long ago learned that there was almost nothing she could do to stop her bullies. She didn’t come from a wealthy or important family, and she had no magic. Plus, no one in town would risk upsetting Sapphires father by upsetting his ‘precious little angel’ of a daughter. She was just an orphan girl living with her older brother, but today she was determined to not let Sapphire get to her, at least not before school had even started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this weeks update is a few days late, but in my defense, I am in college and stuff can get a little crazy sometimes. As a result this weeks chapters considerably shorter, and later, but I'll try to make it up next week. I'm not sure yet if i'll be updating the Friday after Thanksgiving but i'll send an answer out with next weeks update.


	4. School in a Nutshell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know this update is late as well but in my defense Thanksgiving is a very chaotic time of the year. Also, apologies, but I won't be updating next Friday since both school and family things I've been procrastinating on are both catching up to me I won't have the time I'd like to work on the chapter. To make up for it this weeks upload is longer then normal and hopefully a bit more entertaining. 
> 
> Happy early Thanksgiving and I'll see you in two weeks.

Meadowlock Academy was a fairly old school, built originally to be near the center of town, the large brick building sat about a block away from the city's central office. It was four stories high and the only high school in the entire town, originally serving as the only school in town but when more families had moved to Cloverleaf they’d had to build another school that housed the preschool through 6th graders. 

When Nic entered through the large front doors she was instantly surrounded by the overlapping chatter of the various students already in the hallways. She walked through them, only listening to snippets of their various conversations. She was never really one for gossip, but if rumors of a pop quiz where floating around it couldn't hurt to know about it before class.

She quickly made her way up two flights of stairs to her locker, a skinny rectangle of metal about five down from the floors bathroom, and unlocked the door. She busied herself with unpacking and grabbing various textbooks and notebooks before closing the door and heading to her first class, Multi-Species History and Origins.

She took her usually seat next to the window near the back of the room and glanced over at the clock. It was still fairly early before the beginning of class so she pulled the most recent book she had started from her bag and let her long brown hair fall out from behind her ears and sweep across her face like a curtain separating her from the rest of the world.

She was nearing the end of a chapter, which of course meant things were getting interesting enough to end on a cliffhanger, when a strong gust of wind blew the book out of her hands and onto the floor. She glared across the room at Sapphire, whose baby blue eyes where still slightly glowing from the spell she had cast, and bent over to retrieve her book. 

Against the rules or not Nic knew Sapphire wouldn’t get in trouble, she never got in trouble, so it was better to just silently take the abuse and hope it would eventually go away. At least, that had been her strategy since middle school, and while a small part of her tried to hold onto the hope that it would work, a larger part told her to be realistic.

As soon as she’d finished retrieving her book the echo of the first bell rang through the halls and everyone found their seats as Mrs. Greeves entered the room. A fairly tall and lanky woman, Mrs. Greeves was probably one of Nic's favorite teachers. She treated everyone exactly how she thought they deserved to be treated, but sadly she based her opinions of people only on what she saw for herself. The class pet could be the biggest shit stain you’d ever met, but if they treated her with respect, she did the same

She walked to the front of the classroom, her slight heels clicking with every step and quickly materialized her attendance book. 

“Good morning class, let’s get this over with quickly so I can share some exciting news with you all.”

As she ran through the list of names Nic quietly stashed her book back in her bag and pulled out her notebook. The medium sized book was probably filled with more crappy doodles then actual notes, but it at least helped to make it seem like she was paying attention. 

After Mrs. Greeves finished taking attendance she stashed her book back in her magical invisible bag and clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. 

“Alright everyone, as you all know we’ll be ending our unit on the history of vampires shortly and starting our unit on the origins and history of the witches.” A few students nodded their heads and smiled at the idea of learning something a little closer to home. 

It’s not that all of the inhabitants of Cloverleaf where witches, a small scattering of werewolves and vampires resided in the town as well, it’s just that witches made up the majority of the towns supernatural population. 

“Now after a long conversation with Principal Creass we’ve organized something very special for your senior year. In a little over a month, we will be taking a field trip to the witch capital Varain.” The room was immediately filled with various cheers as the excitement quickly spread. Any chance to get out of their small hometown was very exciting for the teenagers, especially if it meant going to the most magical place in the world.

“Now I must warn you that the trip will be expensive, it’s a long ride to the city of the witches and we’ll be spending a few days exploring the many sites that are tied into the cities history. You’ll have until the end of this month to turn in your money and get a signed consent form from your parents.”

While her classmates continued to talk excitedly Nic lowered her head to her desk, resting it on top of her crossed arms, and looked out of the window next to her. The trip sounded like an amazing opportunity to get away from the unending feeling that she didn’t belong, but she also had no idea how she’d be able to afford it.

Her brother already worked at both the local supermarket and a restaurant, and she even worked after school to help pay the bills. They lived rather comfortably as it was but the large strain of a field trip probably wouldn’t fit into their budget.

She became so lost in thought that she stopped paying attention to what was happening around her, missing the moment when the background voices of her classmates transitioned into only her teachers voice and their lesson began. It wasn’t until she was called on to answer a question she was horribly unprepared to answer that her mind snapped back to the present. A few chuckles bounced around the room following her stuttered and incorrect response and she attempted to keep her attention forward the rest of class. 

When the bell rang and everyone got up to amble to their next classes, she didn’t even bother to grab a permission slip from the pile on her teachers desk.


	5. Aftershock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back and once again I hope everyone had a happy and yummy Thanksgiving. Things are gonna really start happening in this chapter so I hope you enjoy it am much as I enjoyed writing it.

As soon as the last end of class bell rang Nic rushed through the hallways and out the front doors to freedom. Well, relative freedom, she never really felt free in her hometown but the apartment and her part time job where about as close as it got. And besides, anything was better than school.

She wouldn’t really say that she loved her job, hardly anyone who works in customer service ever really does. She did, however, enjoy all of the time spent among old books, the interesting travelers she met, and her employers occasional motherly warmth.

She had some lunch money leftover so she used it to buy a small snack from a local vendor who made the best soft pretzels in town before making her way to ‘The Writers Block’. 

The medium sized shop sat in the corner between two roads, snuggled between an art gallery and a music store. The apartment above the shop belonged to the shops owner, Mrs. Phebes,a lively older witch who would sometimes bake treats to be sold downstairs. There was a small sign over the door displaying the stores name written in black letters with a silver outline, and books displayed in the windowsills. 

As she walked inside the bell above the door rang its familiar ting and the medium sized Mrs. Phebes emerged from the nearby bookshelves. 

“Welcome to The Writers Block, how can I…” She trailed off when she realized that the person before her was her employee and not a paying customer before shuffling behind the register counter.

“Right on time, that’s good, I need you to go in the back and look through a new order of books we got today. I wanna make sure there’s no tears in the pages like last time, and when you’re done with that you can catalog and shelve them.”

“The new shipment’s here already?” Nic asked as she followed her boss over to the counter. “Is it the new book by Mulbrim, and the special edition of Azithogs Theories of Elementalism?” 

Mrs. Phebes stifled a chuckle at the younger girls enthusiasm and simply replied, “You won’t know until you’ve opened it and cataloged them.”  
Nic replied with a quick “Yes Mam” before hurrying to the back room to put down her bag and get started. 

She loved the backroom, a cozy space with shelves of the rarest books, enchanted never ending cabinets for cataloging, and a small table and chairs off to the side. She would often spend as much of her breaks as she could just sitting at the small table and reading whatever book had caught her attention. 

Some people found it strange that a girl without magic worked at what she believed to be the best magic bookstore in town, but she tried not to let it bother her. Sure the magic contained in the books and all of the spells where useless to her, but many of the books contained more than just spells. 

They held the lives and stories of witches that had lived and died centuries ago, their tales of adventure and thoughts about their world. And besides, not all of the books where about magic, the majority of the population where humans so of course the store carried stories for them to read as well.

Some of those stories waited for her in the cardboard box currently taking up the majority of the back rooms table space. She opened the box, took a good look at the various smooth covers, and got to work, humming a small song that was stuck in her head as she examined and cataloged the books one at a time. 

When she finally finished she placed the books back in the box and carried them into the front room to shelve them.

As she emerged from the back, the ting of the front bell rang through the store as a tired looking woman walked in with her young son.

The little boy couldn’t have been older than six or seven and the way he was looking at the rows upon rows of books on either side of the store showed that he’d never seen so many in one place before. His mother interrupted his wide eyed staring to sink to his eye level and place a hand on each of his shoulders, forcing him to face her.

“Easton? Honey I need you to pay attention for a second. Mommy has to go find some books for work ok? You can look around and see if you can find any books you like, and if you behave, I might buy you one or two, ok?” The little boy’s head nodded like a bobble head whose chin had just been flicked and for a moment Nic worried that if it moved any faster it would fly off his shoulders.

The mother stood up and walked over to the front counter as her son nearly ran to the nearest stack of books. He skimmed through the shelves, eyes roaming eagerly for something a bit more within his age range and smiled at Nic when he walked past her. 

She smiled back and carefully balanced the box on her hip, freeing one hand to point in the direction of the beginner witch books. With a bounce and a thankful smile, the boy followed where she had pointed and began to hungrily browse the books at his eye level.

After sliding her hand back under the heavy box, Nic turned to continue her job of shelving when a cold hand seemed to wrap itself around her spine. Standing in front of her was the man from her nightmare, the one with the mismatched eyes. She dropped her box in surprise as he turned and seemed to look right through her before wondering if he could hear her heartbeat from where he was. Before she had a chance to find out, he vanished, without a sign that he had ever really been there in the first place. 

She shook her head, telling herself that it had just been some crazy sleep deprived hallucination and tried to get her breathing back under control. She had just come back to reality enough to hear Mrs. Phebes tentatively calling her name from the front desk when the ground started to shake.

It started simple but soon grew to be much more violent as the windows shook and several books fell from the shelves. Nic dropped to the ground as Mrs. Phebes and the other woman cowered near the front counter. She could barely hear the woman shouting for her son over the loud rumbling, but a quick glance at the boy showed that he was to scared to move. He was bent over slightly with his hands covering his ears and his eyes squeezed shut as he tried to maintain his balance. Nic’s heart stopped when she saw the large bookcase behind him slowly start to tip forward. 

She was too far away to reach him, but out of sheer desperation and instinct she flung her arm out, willing with all of her might that he would just MOVE. The warm feeling that quickly spread down her arm was a sharp contrast to the cold fear in her heart, and as if pulled by an invisible rope, the little boy slid across the room and into Nic’s arms. 

There was no time to question what had just happened before she felt the bookcase next to her beginning to fall. She pulled the little boy onto the ground with her and quickly laid on top of him, shielding him from the falling debris.


	6. Aftermath

The bookcase landed on the toppled base of the case next to it, leaving just enough room underneath for them to avoid being crushed. However, many of the books it contained toppled onto her back and she groaned in pain as the little boy began to cry beneath her. Luckily she hadn’t been in the textbook or autobiography sections, so she remained conscious, but she briefly cursed whoever had designed book edges to be so sharp. 

The sounds of breaking ceramic from the upstairs apartment reminding her of a horrifying ‘what if’. So she laid still, afraid to move the objects on top of her and begged to any god she could think of that the ceiling above them would remain intact.

After about a minute of shaking the ground slowly started to calm until finally, the earthquake had passed. The first voice they heard was the little boys frantic mother as she dug through the mess above them desperately shouting his name.

“Easton? Easton!” Hearing his name the boy tried to escape into his mother's arms, crying for her to come and help him. His magic flared desperately as he tried to free them, but he could only manage to shift some of the books around them. When a load bearing book shifted next to them and made the wood above them creak ominously he began to cry harder, burrowing himself into Nic’s chest. 

She wrapped her arms around him and whispered calmly into his ear, telling him that everything would be all right and slowly counting with him until he had calmed down enough to keep his magic under control. Despite her calm tone fear clawed at her chest and she silently worried about the safety of things she couldn’t see. 

She tried to calm herself by imagining her brother running through the front door and saving her just like he had so many times when they were younger, but it just made her more nervous. Had he been injured, trapped, or maybe even… she banished the thought from her head before she could even finish thinking it. Isaac was fine, because he had to be, and she was going to fine, because he would never forgive her if she wasn’t.

“Mrs. Phebes! We’re down here!`` she shouted, hoping that at least one of the two women could hear her from under all the books and shelving.

“Nicole! Hang on! I’m going to get help!” Mrs. Phebes muffled but familiar voice called as she quickly made her way to the door. It didn’t take long to grab a few people who were more than willing to help as soon as they heard the words ‘trapped kids’.

Once they’d unburied and lifted the shelf high enough, Nic pushed Easton out and into his mother's open arms. She quickly followed, trying not to look at their rescuers trembling arms or listen to the protesting creak of the wood. Once out she took what felt like her first full breath since the quake had started and looked over at the young boy. His mother was showering him with kisses while she wiped tears from his face as quickly as they reappeared. After she had finished triple checking that her baby was okay she turned to Nic with tears in her eyes. 

“Thank you. Thank you so much you, you saved my little boy.” Nic smiled tiredly and was just about to tell her how it was no big deal when a pair of small arms wrapped themselves around her waist. 

Once she recovered from her initial surprise she looked down at the top of Eastons scruffy brown hair. From her new vantage point she could see what looked like forest green streaks appearing near the base of the strands, a clear sign that the boy had magic in his veins. It paired well with his dark green and brown eyes, framed by red and puffy skin, that looked up at her in what could almost be called reverence. 

He buried his face back into her stomach and said a muffled thank you before latching back onto his mother's side, still glancing at her occasionally. She smiled warmly back at him before she was pulled away so that Mrs. Phebes could fuss over her.

Remarkably, she walked away with only a few scrapes, bruises, and a fairly large and painful bruise on her back where she’d caught the largest books that Mrs.Phebes suspected was a bruised rib. Easton’s mother insisted that she give Nic a small home brewed potion she’d made to help with the pain, which she was more then eager to accept given that she was quickly losing the positive side effects of her adrenaline rush. 

Mrs. Phebes reassured the people who’d helped free them that there was no one else in the store and after making sure that Nic wasn’t in any immediate danger of death, she insisted that the teenager take the rest of the day off and go home. 

Nic wanted to object, guilt clawing at her when she thought of the older woman trying to clean up both the store and her undoubtedly destroyed apartment by herself. However, the growing fear in the back of her mind over her brothers well being was strong enough to swallow her guilt and make her accept the older witches kind gesture.

She retrieved her bag from the chaos of the back room and was almost half way home when her mind seemed to catch up to her body. She leaned on a crooked street lamp as the events that had just happened slowly replayed themselves in her mind and she tried listing the facts to stave off the feeling of drowning that threatened to overwhelm her.

She had been in the store, the ground had begun to shake, Easton had been across the room, but then, he wasn’t. Nic had wanted him to move, and he had, without walking. The only explanation was something she had ruled an impossibility years ago, but now, was it possible? Had she done magic?

She tried to keep her breathing steadily and told herself not to jump to conclusions as she slowly looked up to see a blackbird perched on the roof of a nearby building. A circle of bright yellow framed it’s scorched black pupils, which where staring directly at her, and she couldn’t help staring back for a few seconds before it flew away without a sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, next weeks update is gonna be late because my finals currently want me dead and as much as I want to keep sharing this story with all of you, I want to give you something that isn't a steaming pile of crap. For anyone taking finals this or next week, good luck and hopefully we can all make it to the other side with passing grades.


	7. Hiatus End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm very very sorry, please don't hate me

So, that was a pretty impromptu and unofficial hiatus, but the good news is... i'm back bitches. 

After lots of prompting, and more then one threat, I've been convinced to take a break from the other project I've been working on to break my writers block and come back to CTP. 

I don't have a new update for you this week because college is kicking my ass but I should be able to get enough editing done to happily upload a new chapter new Friday, or by the latest the week after that. 

My schedule this semester is slowing looking more and more chaotic so this might not be the only disappearing act you'll have to deal with before summer rolls around, but I promise to try and not let the next one be a month long. 

Feel free to yell at me as much as you want in the comments, maybe it'll help keep me motivated to release the next chapter on time, and I hope to see you back here next Friday.


End file.
